Actualité:

Stricken with a terminal disease, the decline of traditional society is unavoidable. For decades, the political institutions that fostered a Republic based upon individual liberty and responsibility fade into fond memory.

Defenders of all that made America a shining example of human freedom are attacked and ridiculed for holding onto a moral and ethical system that is based upon the dignity of every individual.

Most will blame the failure of this decay on the politicians that willfully pander to the masses with the next generation of social welfare programs.

While defining a politician as a scoundrel, deserving damnation, seems obvious; the underlying source of the decay that eats away the culture comes from various directions.

The trends toward despotism are visible for all to see. Most prefer their blinded vision because accepting the lethal condition might require some proactive response.

The idea that a single dictator will seize power and rule as a tyranny seems foreign to many plebeians.

Yet, the daily news that flows from the corporate mass media build upon the absence of real reporting and fundamental truth that ignores, denies and substitutes meaningless stories for earth shattering events.

Therefore, the significance of the concept, inverted totalitarianism, as defined by Sheldon S. Wolin deserves examination.

“It is all politics all of the time but a politics largely untempered by the political. Party squabbles are occasionally on public display, and there is a frantic and continuous politics among factions of the party, interest groups, competing corporate powers, and rival media concerns. And there is, of course, the culminating moment of national elections when the attention of the nation is required to make a choice of personalities rather than a choice between alternatives. What is absent is the political, the commitment to finding where the common good lies amidst the welter of well-financed, highly organized, single-minded interests rabidly seeking governmental favors and overwhelming the practices of representative government and public administration by a sea of cash.”

Callers on behalf of the federal Conservative Party were instructed in the days before last year’s election to read scripts telling voters that Elections Canada had changed their voting locations, say telephone operators who worked for a Thunder Bay-based call centre.

These weren’t “robo-calls,” as automated pre-recorded voice messages as commonly known. They were live real-time calls made into ridings across Canada, the callers say.

In a new twist on new growing allegations of political “dirty tricks,” three former employees of RMG — Responsive Marketing Group Inc.’s call centre in Thunder Bay — told the Star about the scripts.

Governments around the world are attempting to seize control of the internet by making it legal for law enforcement to request your personal information from your telecommunications service provider without a warrant.

The current Canadian bill is C-30. The “Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act“. This bill gives both Canadian and Foreign law enforcement agencies the right to demand your personal information at any time, without a warrant.

By submitting your Name, Postal Code and Email address, an email will be sent to your local Member of Parliament, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Prime Minister Stephen Harper voicing your displeasure against Bill C-30.

None of your information will be kept or stored once you have submitted your concerns.

After a popular internet backlash, Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and the Tories have begun quieting their plans for bill C-30, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act.

The bill provisions law enforcement agencies such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Royal Canadian Mounted Police or any other police organization related to enforcing laws in Canada, a province or a foreign jurisdiction to demand personal information from communications companies without a warrant.

A bill passed Monday in the US House of Representatives and Thursday in the Senate would make it a felony—a serious criminal offense punishable by lengthy terms of incarceration—to participate in many forms of protest associated with the Occupy Wall Street protests of last year. Several commentators have dubbed it the “anti-Occupy” law, but its implications are far broader.

The very anticipated operating system Windows 8 will have a feature that was never found on PC’s before: A kill switch that can remotely delete software and edit code without the user’s permission. Although Microsoft claims the switch would only be used for software that is downloaded from its app store, no official policies clearly define the actual purpose of the kill switch. In other words, nothing is truly considered “illegal” and that includes issues regarding spying, censorship and free speech.

And all giving police and who knows who else the chance to peek into your backyard.

Legislation just signed by President Obama directs the Federal Aviation Administration to open the skies to remotely controlled drones within the next three years. It will begin in 90 days with police and first responders having authority to fly smaller drones of less than 4.4 pounds at altitudes under 400 feet. Gradually, all drones are to be allowed by Sept. 30, 2015.

Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has unveiled a new add-on for the popular web browser that gives web users an instant view of which companies are 'watching' them as they browse.

The move comes the same week that Google pushed ahead with its controversial new privacy policy, built to provide even more data for Google's $28 billion advertising business - despite concerns that the massive harvesting of private data might be illegal in many countries.

The Collusion add-on will allow users to 'pull back the curtain' on web advertising firms and other third parties that track people's online movements, says Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs.

Of all of the ridiculous contrived distorted pieces of propaganda the US government has fabricated against Iran, this has to be the most disturbing of them all, and there is no doubt it will soon be aired on every corporate media news station in the country.

The US house panel has just passed HR 3783 to monitor Iran’s activities in Latin America because:

Iran is using Hezbollah to supply the Mexican drug cartels with guns and drugs to incite violence on the US/Mexico border and smuggle drugs into the United States using sophisticated Hezbollah narco-tunneling.

Of course, its absurd but here is the full text of “Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012″, which also includes a long list of other absurd accusations and conspiracy theories against Iran.

H.R.347, the `Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011? has just been passed.

This makes it a federal offense, with imprisonment of at least up to one year, for any “unauthorized” person to enter or remain in a building — or the grounds — where the Secret Service is present or where there is an “an event designated as a special event of national significance.”

In other words, it is now a felony to have a demonstration near presidential candidates or a visiting head of state such as Benjamin Netanyahu. In fact, it is a felony to even be on the grounds where they are temporarily visiting, say at a campaign stop – even if you don’t yet know that this has now become an off-limits area.

By the way among events that have been “designated as a special event of national significance” are the Super Bowl and the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

The bill passed 388-to-3. Now it awaits Obama’s no doubt willing signature – just in time for the AIPAC convention, which starts this weekend.

If anyone strays too near the DC Convention Center, where this is being held, they will be subject to this new law if Obama has signed it by then. Perhaps this should be called the “Protect Netanyahu from Rae Abileah” bill.

The text of the bill is below. Below that is how our representatives voted.

Google’s controversial new privacy policy appears to violate European law, EU authorities said in an email to Google CEO Larry Page on Tuesday - just two days before the new guidelines are set to come into force.

CNIL, the French agency in charge of the investigation, said Google’s explanation of how it will use the data was too vague and difficult to understand ‘even for trained privacy professionals.’

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The director of the FBI told an annual gathering of cyber-security professionals on Thursday that the agency needs the private sector to help combat what he believes is becoming the nation's No. 1 threat.

We learned today that there are US ground troops in Yemen, but what about India? Depends on who you ask.

US Pacific Command head Admiral Robert Willard announced today that US special forces have been deployed to India, along with Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives, as an effort to fight the Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT), a militant faction mostly active in Kashmir.

Though Willard was very clear about there being teams deployed to India, the US Embassy and the Indian Defense Ministry later denied the claims, saying that there are no US troops of any type inside India.

US TROOPS IN INDIA?!?!?

Where are US troops not deployed these days, except for Russia and China?!?

This current, and very stressed, US military footprint is one of the key reasons that going to war against Iran is a really bad idea.

Even with the reinstitution of a draft, the US could not get enough trained troops on the ground in time to make the kind of difference necessary to win, and particularly if the battle is prolonged, which it may well be.

Pentagon officials today confirmed that a “security team” of US forces came under attack from Ansar al-Sharia loyalists in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, but denied any injuries as a result of the attack. Ansar al-Sharia claimed one “CIA officer” killed in the exchange.

The difference in versions from the two sides actually misses the much more serious revelation of the report, that US ground troops are operating inside Yemen at all. There has certainly been no announcement to that effect, and indeed, several times the Obama Administration has “ruled out” sending ground troops to Yemen.

Even with the dictator Saleh gone, things haven't changed for the better for the people of Yemen, and that is the real problem here.

As always, when peaceful revolution is impossible, violent revolution is inevitable. The answers are social and economic here, not military; but of course, the US government is, as usual, covering their collective eyes and ears, and pretending they don't realize or understand this.

Let's face it: the only "..American interests" in this area right now are actions preventing the destabilization of Saudi Arabia at this critical time, when it appears that there will be a military attack against Iran, which will take Iranian oil off the market, and make Saudi Arabia's oil output more critical.

Britain is engaged in a secret oil grab in Somalia under the guise of humanitarian aid and security assistance, a Sunday newspaper alleged today.

Suspicions have long been held that – as with previous interventions in Iraq and elsewhere – Somalia’s mineral reserves may be the main reason that Western powers have begun to focus so sharply on the situation in the war-torn east African country.

EVERY single alleged "humanitarian response", particularly with poorer countries on this planet, is all about the money.

A Bahraini princess has been accused of being involved in the torture of pro-democracy protesters detained in the country’s recent crackdown on peaceful assembly.

A number of the medical professionals sentenced last week to lengthy jail time for treating injured protesters as patients have alleged that the princess, Sheikha Noora bint Ibrahim al-Khalifa, beat them with sticks and a rubber hose, and gave electric shocks to the face with a cable.

One victim, 26 year old Nada Dhaif, alleged the princess had abused her during interrogations in March. Dhaif claimed: “She slapped me, beat me and called me a Shia pig. She put a cable in my ears and gave me electric shocks.” Male guards were also involved in the torture, apparently following orders from the princess.

Webmaster's Commentary:

IF these allegations are true, it truly paints an horrific portrait of the ruling Sunni monarchy toward their Shiite subjects; an attitude indicating that they believe they can torture their own people with absolute impunity, completely free from any consequences whatsoever.

And this is the government the Obama administration steadfastly supports?!?

It is high time the US finds a new home for the 5th fleet, currently headquartered in Bahrain. This behavior cannot be tolerated by the US government, which proclaims the sanctity of human rights, democracy, and human dignity.

The African asylum-seekers, hoping for a solution to their limbo status, have fled impossible situations at home — mostly Eritrea and Sudan. They were greeted upon arrival in Israel with a hostile government that offers them no support or protection and wants them out.

The trend was cemented in January, when the 1954 Prevention of Infiltration law was amended. The amendment allows the state to detain refugees without trial for three years, or indefinitely if they are from an "enemy" country such as Sudan.

This puts Israel at first place among western states for the longest jail time for asylum seekers, according to Amnesty International ("Israel: new detention law violates rights of asylum seekers," 10 January 2012).

Furthermore, Israeli settlers carried out dozens of attacks, uprooting and bulldozing 4931 Dunams (1218.47 Acres) of Palestinian farmlands; 1825 Dunams in Jaloud – Nablus, Nahhalin and Al-Jab’a in Bethlehem, Yousouf and Sarta in Salfit, in addition to Beit Ola and Al-Himma in Hebron and Tubas. 1383 Dunams were bulldozed and uprooted, and owners of 1723 Dunams were prevented from entering their lands after extremist settlers planted them and are attempting to take them over. 1169 trees were uprooted in Surif, Beit Ummar, Tormos Ayya, Aqraba and Michmas.

Before the funeral procession arrived at the cemetery, it encountered border police and army forces. The family tried to talk to the border police officers who were at the scene so that they would allow the procession to reach the cemetery, but to no avail. A few minutes later, a security force vehicle sprayed a foul smelling liquid ("skunk") on the demonstrators, who had remained on the street, and on the deceased's body and the mourners.

WOW, the IDF had to be REALLY BUTCH to spray a corpse and mourners, just trying to get the guy buried!!

If Israel is, as it alleges, "the only true democracy in the Middle East", then democracy in the Middle East is in VERY deep kim chee!

"Beware Israel," she said. "Israel is not going to be there for ever in its present form. One day, the United States of America will get sick of giving £70bn a year to Israel to support what I call America's aircraft carrier in the Middle East – that is Israel. One day, the American people are going to say to the Israel lobby in the USA: enough is enough."

£70bn a year to Israel is $111bn! Bit more than the $3bn the US Government officially says they tale from you to give to Israel! No wonder they made this MP resign!

In the spirit of recognizing mobs of terrorists as legitimate national governments before a sovereign nation’s true leadership is murdered by US-led NATO operations, as was the case in Libya, the Western media is already decrying Russia’s upcoming elections as “rigged” before they’ve even taken place. Leading the preemptive media coverage is Foreign Policy (FP) magazine featuring an article by Freedom House president David Kramer and Freedom House vice president, Christopher Walker.

The US and Israel governments want Putin gone in the worst way possible, because he has been very critical of the US, NATO and Israel's stand on Libya, Syria, and Iran.

And another interesting observation on Putin's Russia; to obtain the resources it needs for growth, rather than waging wars to get what it needs, Russia has been inking development deals all over the planet.

Perhaps the US government needs to study how to get the resources it needs without firing a single shot: now, that would be refreshing!!

"The battle for Russia continues, the victory will be ours," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin cried out to tens thousands of supporters at a rally in Moscow on Thursday, quoting also from a poem by Mikhail Lermontov about the crucial Russian battle against Napoleon in 1812.

Reports from Russia is that Putin just evaded an assassination attempt.

The European Bankers are being relentless trying to regain control of Russia. For many decades since the Bolsheviks taken over ousting the provisional government all the way to the time until Putin took power. The financial oligarchs who funded the criminal communist government plundered the wealth of the Russian people seizing the people’s gold and land. The Robber Barons behind the Communist takeover was not to help the Russian people, but to destroy them.

The most parasitic bankers starved and murdered millions of people by executions and famines. People where not allowed to grow their own food or be productive through their puppet leaders. When the Soviet Union collapsed because it was no longer could sustain itself. If were not for Wall Street, The US Government and the Federal reserve Bank funding the Soviet Union it would have fell from within a long time ago. When Boris Yeltsin was the leader of Russia, he was a puppet leader for the bankers where the oligarchs were continuing plundering the Russian people until the ruble collapsed in 1998 by the actions of a parasitic financier named George Soros.

When Vladimir Putin took power as the Russian President over a nation in near ruin on the brink. The country was very unstable and uncertain. He took a hard-line in throwing out and arresting the financial oligarchs that worked for the Rothschild. Putin brought stability back to Russia. He took away the fear of uncertainty and put Russia back on track. The Bankers who are owned by the ruling families are not fond of Putin because he is a wild card not under their control. Putin is not a globalist puppet. They may say he is an evil man because he was in the KGB. Not all KGB agents were government spooks. He has a background with collage degrees in economics. Intelligence agencies do study economies and economic trends. They are not all spies playing cloak and dagger.

Not all people in the KGB were evil. They did study economies. While in the KGB. Putin probably figured out Russia will be better off without the bankers and socialism. Now since the Soviet Union collapsed. He knows socialism and being under banker control does not work working inside the KGB. To label all people who were with the KGB as being all bad is not fair because many good Russian people worked inside the agency too who did not like the communist system. Putin being one of them who has knowledge in economics. I remember Putin telling Obama do not use the failed socialist policies of the past. They do not work. Putin is right like many others have said too.

Phone hacking will be the single largest corporate corruption case for 250 years claiming the 'cover up' went up 'to the very highest levels', a senior Labour MP sensationally claimed today.

Speaking in an adjournment debate held in Westminster Hall, Chris Bryant claimed the 'cover-up' at News International extended to executive and chairman James Murdoch and that senior figures 'ordered - we know this for sure - the mass destruction of evidence'.

He said: 'There was a major cover-up at News International which stretched right up to the very highest levels of the company, as we know even up to James Murdoch.

'And that, in the end, I suspect, will prove to have been the biggest crime.'

James Murdoch today cut his ties with British newspapers and the UK by stepping down as executive chairman of News International.

After months of relentless revelations over the News of the World phone hacking scandal, which saw him being described as a 'mafia boss', the company today announced he will focus on expanding his father's international TV businesses and will be based in New York.

Considering that this was going on in the 1950s, it is highly likely that this is happening now and at a much larger extent. The CIA and other government agencies literally control the corporate controlled media.

Anytime you hear a story on the major networks that has any implication in US foreign or domestic policy rest assured that it was, at the very least, vetted by the CIA before being released.

Ever since its failure to win United Nations Security Council backing for “regime change” in Syria, Washington and its lackeys in the corporate media have been unrelenting in voicing their great moral outrage at both the violence of the Assad regime and the seeming indifference to it all by the likes of Russia and China. Washington is no doubt long in forgetting those that thwart the will of the “international community.” After all, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated, the “travesty” of the Russian and Chinese veto left the entire Security Council “neutered.”

Given this, it was of little surprise to see Ms. Clinton mount her soapbox once more on Friday at the meeting of the “friends of Syria” in Tunis. As Ms. Clinton moralized:

Earlier, it came to light that Israel might have already destroyed Iranian nuclear sites and that preparations for a military attack on Tehran are well under way. It's from millions of emails allegedly hacked from the US intelligence think-tank Stratfor, and revealed by WikiLeaks.

The mega-leaks website, WikiLeaks, has partnered with the hackers cooperative Anonymous, to publish internal emails of the American strategic intelligence company Stratfor. In one of the hacked emails, Stratfor officials discuss information obtained from one of their sources who reports that Israeli commandos, in cooperation with Kurdish fighters, have destroyed Iranian nuclear installations.

Yet another reason to suspect that Wikileaks is actually a propaganda operation. If ABCNNBBCBS tells you Iran has a bomb, you know it is a lie, but if Assange says it...?

The compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, which authorities claim was Osama Bin Laden's home for several years before his supposed killing by a US special forces team last May, has this weekend been totally demolished. Pakistani authorities began tearing down the house on Saturday night, working under floodlights, with the local population subject to a strict curfew and Pakistan Army soldiers and police personnel reportedly deployed in large numbers...

Steven G. Bradbury, the former head of the Justice Departments legal council during the Bush era and a direct architect of the American torture program, has called for the indefinite detention of any American that the government claims is a terrorist.

Bradbury, speaking during a Senate hearing after Obama issued new NDAA guidelines that supposedly limits the use of indefinite detention against Americans, claimed that indefinite detention would help the government deal with homegrown terrorists and is absolutely necessary.

This open criminal who was a primary architect of the disgusting Bush torture program was called as an expert witness in Congress when in reality he is nothing short of a war criminal.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was formed to ensure America’s freedom to travel. Instead, they have made air travel the most difficult means of mass transit in the United States, at the same time failing to make air travel any more secure.

A leading Chinese space engineer said in Beijing yesterday that China's first unmanned space module, the Tiangong-1, is capable of accommodating astronauts, making it possible for China to carry out its first manned space docking mission ahead of schedule.

The World Bank has a sobering forecast for the future of China's economy. It's produced a report saying without reform, the globe's second biggest economy will suffer a major slowdown over the next 20 years. **5 mins in, comments on the Pentagon's views.

The gun works by listening in with a directional microphone, and then, after a short delay of around 0.2 seconds, playing it back with a directional speaker. This triggers an effect that psychologists call Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF), which has long been known to interrupt your speech (you might’ve experienced the same effect if you’ve ever heard your own voice echoing through Skype or another voice comms program). According to the researchers, DAF doesn’t cause physical discomfort, but the fact that you’re unable to talk is obviously quite stressful.

Suffice it to say, if you’re a firm believer in free speech, you should now be experiencing a deafening cacophony of alarm bells. Let me illustrate a few examples of how this speech-jamming gun could be used.

While working for a previous radio network, there was a problem in the control room where my voice was being sent back to me with a slight delay, producing the above effect. However I noticed that by focusing on my thoughts and not my voice, after a while you are able to tune out that delayed echo and it no longer disrupts your speech patterns.

Breitbart’s untimely death has shocked the media world and left some to question whether or not damning footage of Obama in his youth, which Breitbart announced he had obtained only last month, will still be released.

According to some observers, the footage threatened to sink Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.

“I’ve got video from his college days that show you why racial division and class warfare are central to what hope and change was sold in 2008 – the videos are going to come out,” Breitbart told a crowd during a CPAC speech in February, adding that the video shows Obama meeting “a bunch of silver pony tails” like Bill and Bernardine Dohrn (Weather Underground members), who radicalized him.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals killed more than 95 per cent of animals in its care last year at a Virginia shelter, a shocking new report states.

The report, released by non-profit consumer group, claims that PETA - which is known for its outspoken stance on animal rights - were responsible for the deaths of nearly 2,000 adoptable animals last year alone.

The records also show that the animal-rights organization has killed more than 27,000 animals at its headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia since 1998.

New archaeological evidence suggests that America was first discovered by Stone Age people from Europe – 10,000 years before the Siberian-originating ancestors of the American Indians set foot in the New World.

Not that the Nobel Peace Prize has any credibility left after Al Gore and Obama got them, but Bill Clinton is the man who launched cruise missile attacks against a mosque in Afghanistan and anaspirin factory in Sudanpurely to keep reporters from talking to Monica Lewinsky on the day she testified to Congress.

Today, Wikileaks began releasing the Stratfor emails which were hacked back in December, 2011. Stratfor, a Texas based global intelligence service, provides geo-political analysis and information to corporate and government subscribers.

In an email from February 20, 2010, Stratfor founder George Friedman asserts that the current problem is a “crisis of the elites”, that the American, European and Chinese elites are unaware of “the political pressures of the other elites”, that they “completely misunderstand the alienation of the publics” and that “[the problem] can be handled by the elites”.

Mr. Friedman also proposed that Iran is “going out of control” due to the elite crisis, that “no decision making is going on” and that decisions being made “won’t be supported by the public”.

Élections US & Ron Paul:

The conspiracy comes into play when you look at the Mainstream Media's choice of polling agencies. They all report the same numbers that are very questionable and in the case of Maine and Minnesota were varied and far from close to the actual outcome.

If the government cannot prove the accuracy, honesty, and fairness of the elections by which they claim authority over the people, then the people are neither morally nor legally obligated to obey that government, pay its bills, or send their children to die in that government's wars.

So far, the overall magnitude of the circumstances has gone largely unnoticed by the people of the US in general, but that didn’t deter NV GOP Chairwoman, Amy Tarkanian from filing her resignation the very next morning on Sunday, as obvious and rampant, widespread election fraud is sweeping through the country in an establishment elite attempt to hide the real results, in favor of a pre-chosen candidate, despite the wishes of the American people.

In a letter dated Thursday, Wilson says the analysis found 953 ballots cast by voters listed as dead. In 71 percent of those cases, ballots were cast between two months and 76 months after the people died. That means they "voted" up to 6 1/3 years after their death.

The letter doesn't say in which elections the ballots were cast.

It doesn't matter which election it was detected in. If election fraud can happen in any election, it is happening in all of them. Even the dead voters can see that Iowa, New Hampshire, and now South Carolina are discredited with dead people voting, lost precinct ballots, and unverifiable electronic vote stealers machines. It no longer matters which politician wins this election; nobody will accept them as a legitimate government. They cannot prove they actually won the election honestly and fairly, so no American is legally or morally obligated to obey that politician's orders, pay the bills for their reckless spending, or sacrifice our children's lives in wars of their making.

Nobody can actually prove who won Iowa. We are just supposed to take the word of the government and the media at face value, even though this is the same media and government that lied to us about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, and who have insisted for going on ten years now that the economy is in a recovery.

So, how does it feel to be an occupied nation with puppet rulers and fake elections? Remember when the US and Israel "allowed" Gaza to have elections, trumpeting the triumph of Democracy? Of course, the trumpets went silent when the Gazan people elected leaders that the US and Israel did not approve of, and now the US and Israel pretend the elections never happened. Maybe now you understand that the reason the people in all those occupied nations with imposed puppet rulers are angry with the US, and it is not because of our freedoms. After all, we are no more free than those occupied people are. Free people select their own candidates. Picking from a pre-selected line up of puppets is not democratic; it is an illusion created to trick you into obedience to those who pull the strings.

You are an occupied nation ruled by puppets who serve a foreign nation, loot your wealth to feed that nation, enslave your children to fight that nation's wars of conquest, starve you, make you homeless, and call you envious when you complain. Amazing how much 21st Century America resembles Iran under the Shah, isn't it? Or Cuba under Batista. Or the Philippines under Marcos. Or Chile under Pinochet. Rampant corruption. Government sanctioned torture. Death squads. Rigged elections. Only the flag is different.

I'm not expecting Ron Paul to have great results in South Carolina -- not because he has lack of potential there, but because the true voting result will be impossible to be confident of.

All of South Carolina's votes will be taken and tallied by electronic software with NO paper records.

This to me is shocking. The reason is because I'm a computer scientist and programming engineer. I can tell you that for something as important as the validity of an election there MUST be a paper trail which can be scrutinized if need be.

Despite winning the event’s annual straw poll for the last two years running, Ron Paul has seemingly been excluded from this year’s CPAC conference, with Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich announced as keynote speakers but Paul appearing nowhere on the roster.

Ron Paul has invested days of campaigning and money for television ads ahead of caucuses in Minnesota, where he’s hoping he can eke out the first win of his Republican presidential campaign.

The Texas congressman spent the most time in Minnesota of any competitors ahead of Tuesday’s voting and planned to see it through with a caucus-night party outside Minneapolis.

It reflects Paul’s strategy of concentrating on caucus states where he can amass national convention delegates even if he doesn’t win.

"These are all just simple mistakes. The missing precincts in Iowa. Excess votes in Clark County. Simple mistakes. That's all. Honest! This is not election fraud. Really. And now for the weather!" -- ABCNNBBCBSFOX

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was refused entry into a secured area of the Nashville Airport today after he reportedly rejected a TSA pat-down.

According to the Senator, he was “detained” by TSA and forced to miss his flight.

Mr. Paul cited the U.S. Constitution, specifically Article 1, Section 6 that clearly protects Senators and Representatives from arrest if they are on their way to, or returning from, a session of their respective House.

Today Rand Paul, speaking to the Daily Caller, described his detention by TSA agents yesterday in what many believe amounted to a clear cut violation of the Constitution.

Paul described his detention as a big ordeal that highlights the growing problems with the Transportation Security Agency and their police state actions.

For their part, the White House came out in defense of the TSA thugs who detained a sitting Senator as a possible terrorist, with Whit House spokesman James Carney attempting to change the narrative and reality of the story by claiming Rand wasn’t actually detained.

LONDON (MarketWatch) — François Hollande, the candidate for the Socialist Party in France who is leading the opinion polls ahead of the presidential election this spring, proposed on Jan. 22 sweeping reforms of the European and French financial systems to combat speculation and restore growth.

The United States is still flouting international law at Guantanamo Bay, despite President Barack Obama’s election pledge to shut the facility, the United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Monday.

“It is ten years since the U.S. Government opened the prison at Guantanamo, and now three years since 22 January 2009, when the President ordered its closure within twelve months. Yet the facility continues to exist and individuals remain arbitrarily detained – indefinitely – in clear breach of international law,” Pillay said in a statement.

The question of what motivates Mr. Adelson’s singular generosity toward the former House speaker has emerged front and center in the campaign. People who know him say his affinity for Mr. Gingrich stems from a devotion to Israel as well as loyalty to a friend. A fervent Zionist who opposes any territorial compromise to make way for a Palestinian state, Mr. Adelson has long been enamored of Mr. Gingrich’s full-throated defense of Israel.

No government can serve two masters. A government that serves Israel cannot, does not, and will not serve the people of the United States. A friend of Israel is no friend of America. Time to get Israeli subversives out of the US political process. America needs leaders who will put America first, second, and third.

Newt Gingrich doesn’t just want to lay waste to his political enemies and a large part of the news media. The former House speaker and presidential hopeful wants to bomb a significant part of the planet, too.

Gingrich is on the record favoring American military intervention from North Korea to Lebanon. He recently threatened cyberwar with China and Russia. And on Monday, he called for an all-out assault to topple the Castro regime in Cuba. With such a wide range of targets, no wonder Gingrich has consistently said that the U.S. is in the middle of “World War III.” His plans for overthrowing the Iranian government? Just the beginning. In fact, if President Gingrich encounters any little green men while building his moon base (!), they had better pray to their astral maker for mercy.

American billionaire, close ally of Netanyahu, and main donor to Gingrich's campaign has been under federal investigation for his casino empire's alleged involvement in a corruption scandal in China, ABC reports.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum implied that Iran would drop a nuclear bomb in the United States if it had the capability.

At a campaign stop in Missouri, Santorum told a crowd that a nuclear Iran would pose a direct threat, even to Missouri. “Once they have a nuclear weapon, let me assure you, you will not be safe, even here in Missouri,” he said.

"Our country condemned it. My feeling is we should have kept our mouth shut," Santorum told about 200 people packed into a popular breakfast diner in Greenville.

...

And while Santorum stresses values issues, he has also argued for a tough stand on Iran's nuclear capability. Responding to a question in Greenville, he said he supports missile strikes to stop its nuclear program, if Iran refuses to submit to inspections.

"If these are people who are developing a weapon to be used to either destroy the state of Israel or to spread terror -- a reign of terror -- around the world, we shouldn't be sitting on the sidelines and letting it happen," he said. "They cannot have a nuclear weapon, because you, in Greenville, will not be safe."

"On occasion scientists working on the nuclear program in Iran turn up dead. I think that's a wonderful thing, candidly," said Rick Santorum at a recent campaign stop in Greenville, South Carolina.

But it isn't just dead Iranian scientists that gladden Santorum's heart.

He continued: "I think we should send a very clear message that if you are a scientist from Russia, North Korea, or from Iran and you are going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe."

The Islamophobic rant Santorum delivered at an event organized by a known bigot was no less extreme than anything contained in Ron Paul's newsletters. But don't wait for the American mainstream press to discuss Santorum's disturbing views on Muslims as anything other than proof of his "authenticity."

Okay Rick, if you feel that way about it, here's your rifle, and here's your parachute. We ran out of the desert camo for you but here is a left-over bright orange jumpsuit from Abu Ghraib for you to wear. We'll call Tehran and tell them you are on your way to kick their ass all by yourself. But you understand, given that IAEA has not found any evidence of a weapons program in Iran, and after that whopper you all told us about Iraq having nuclear weapons to get us to go along with attacking them, you will forgive us if we refuse to allow any more of our children to be blown to bloody bits in another war for Israel's benefit. No government can serve two masters, and right now, in the midst of the greatest economic crisis in our history, brought down on us by the biggest financial crime in history, America needs leaders who will put America first, and you just failed the test.

In this post-Citizens United era, every presidential candidate needs the backing of a super PAC, one of those independent political action committees that can accept unlimited contributions from corporations, unions, other groups and individuals. That even applies to President Barack Obama, who on Tuesday reversed himself and asked his financial backers to donate money to super PACs supporting his reelection campaign. Previously, the president had called unlimited spending by super PACs "a threat to our democracy." Now, says the president, to campaign without one would be to unilaterally disarm.

The truly decisive element [in Republican presidential debates] has been ... money. Lots of it. This is not new. But since a 2010 supreme court ruling allowing unlimited campaign contributions by corporations and unions, it has become particularly acute. Moreover, the contributors can remain anonymous. The organisations that are taking advantage of this new law are known as Super Pacs. In 2008 election spending doubled compared with 2004. This year industry analysts believe the money spent just on television ads is set to leap by almost 80% compared with four years ago. Money in American politics was already an elephant in the room. Now the supreme court has given it a laxative, taken away the shovel, and asked us to ignore both the sight and the stench. This is not a partisan point. Almost two-thirds of Americans believe the government should limit individual contributions – with a majority among Republicans, Democrats and independents. The trend towards oligarchy in the polity is already clear. There are 250 millionaires in Congress. As a whole, the polity's median net worth is $891,506, nine times the typical US household. The influence of money at this level corrupts an entire political culture and in no small part explains the depth of cynicism, alienation and mistrust Americans now have for their politicians.

It’s no secret that many members of the U.S. House and Senate are millionaires — 47 percent of them — their salaries paid in part by the American taxpayers. The Center for Responsive Politics has crunched the numbers and released the results on its Open Secrets blog: “About 47 percent of Congress, or 249 current members are millionaires. In 2010, the estimated median net worth of a current U.S. senator stood at an average of $2.56 million. Despite the global economic meltdown in 2008 and the sluggish recovery that followed, that’s up about 7.6 percent from an estimated median net worth of $2.38 million in 2009 … and up 13 percent from a median net worth of $2.27 million in 2008. Fully 36 Senate Democrats, and 30 Senate Republicans reported an average net worth in excess of $1 million in 2010. The same was true for 110 House Republicans and 73 House Democrats.” “The vast majority of members of Congress are quite comfortable, financially, while many of their own constituents suffer from economic hardships,” said Sheila Krumholz at the Center For Responsive Politics. “Few Americans enjoy the same financial cushions maintained by most members of Congress — or the same access to market-altering information that could yield personal, financial gains.”

Texas Congress Ron Paul was the top choice in a presidential nominee preference poll conducted by registered Republican voters here as Maine winds up its controversial GOP caucuses.

Paul attracted 41 votes, more than twice the votes for Mitt Romney, who had 16. Rick Santorum attracted 17 votes, while Newt Gingrich finished last with 9.

I predict that the GOP will cheat on top of the cheat and insist Romney is still the winner to save itself from embarrassment and "preserve public trust in the elections process" which is politick-speak for keeping the Ron Paul supporters in the other states from demanding where the missing votes vanished to in Iowa, why there were more votes than voters in Nevada, etc. etc. etc. etc.

But at this point, regardless of who is actually declared to be the winner, the sheer scale of the discrepancy between the original Maine counts and the new totals has destroyed the legitimacy of the GOP, this entire election, and the Federal Government! Nothing short of a complete redo of the votes, using paper ballots, public hand counts, and total transparency, will bring back trust in this government's elections process.

Comparing the old & new Maine caucus results there are a number of odd errors that coincidentally, always favor Romney.

Two towns where Romney had zero, now he has 5One town where Ron Paul had 20 now 0In state’s biggest city Portland, the numbers were flipped from a RP win to a Romney win (106-91)

The Maine GOP tried to spin this as Romney actually gaining votes. Their new numbers have Romney, Santorum, Gingrich and Paul gaining 79, 63, 42, and 34 votes, respectively.

But if you add it up and fix the ‘clerical errors’, Ron Paul actually gained 110 votes, 2106 total.

Forget the question of who actually won or lost. That there is such a huge discrepancy between the original results and the recount results proves the entire system is in a shambles. Missing counties in Iowa, excess votes in Nevada; the legitimacy of this entire election is already destroyed and along with it, the legitimacy of the Federal Government as a whole.

Will Mitt Romney's "victory" in the February 11 Maine presidential caucuses be taken away like his phony victory in Iowa? That now seems quite possible. The Maine GOP declared the former Massachusetts Governor the narrow winner of the state's presidential caucus February 11, but Romney's 194-vote margin of victory over Texas Congressman Ron Paul is being whittled away as more results have been reported.

Moreover, the state's rural Washington County — along with a few other communities that postponed their caucuses February 11 — will hold the final caucuses Saturday, February 18 and may decide the victor of the non-binding straw poll.

While Maine has still been lying about the votes, and more and more votes are seen to lost; the question still is, Did Ron Paul win Maine?

Google shows 1,075(-)(+) votes are lost. That is right, with over 1,000 votes missing and Google also showing 194 votes between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney; can we really believe the Maine Caucus?

This is no longer a question of whether Ron Paul beat Romney or not. The sheer scale of the miscounts delegitimizes the entire voting system and the Federal Government that claims authority over us based on that discredited voting system. While vote fraud has been epidemic in this country for decades, most Americans became aware that the elections could not be trusted in 2000 and this year's stunts by the GOP have only eroded public trust further! People rightly ask that if the government that aided Wall Street in creating $100 trillion in debt cannot prove they were lawfully elected, then why should we pay even one penny towards those debts not of our making, by and to a government not of our own choosing?

If a government cannot prove the honesty and accuracy of the elections by which they claim authority over the people, then the people are neither legally nor morally obligated to obey that government's dictates nor to pay its bills nor to send their children to die in that government's wars, and may with full moral justification resist with lethal force efforts to coerce said obedience, looting, and conscription.

This brief will show in convincing fashion that a large portion of Ron Paul’s votes in South Carolina were stolen from him and given to at least one other candidate, Mitt Romney. In order to keep this as brief as possible, a single county- in this case Anderson County- will be used to easily show the obvious electronic manipulation. For the record, I found blatantly obvious numerical manipulationunnatural

“You know those straw polls, at CPAC,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “For two years Ron Paul has won those because he just trucks in a lot of people, pays for their ticket, and they come in and vote and they leave. We didn’t do that. We don't do that. I don't try to rig straw polls.”

“The fact of the matter is we’re going to hold our vote, we’re going to announce the results and the media can do its own math,” said Gardner. “Regardless of who wins, those votes need to be counted and that’s what we’re doing.”

"Look, you guys just don't get it. Ron Paul is not allowed to be the candidate. Wall Street and Israel both said so, and you need to get with the party, comrades! We were told to nominate Romney even if it means a second Obama term, and we always do as we are told, just like all patriotic useful idiots are supposed to do! What is wrong with you people, wanting to pick your own leaders. What do you think this is, a democracy?!?" -- Group of Old Poops!

Rep. Ron Paul is not conceding the GOP’s Maine caucuses, which state party officials and major networks called Saturday for rival Mitt Romney.

With 84 percent of precincts reporting, Romney has 39 percent to Paul's 36 percent, and Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster declared Romney the winner Saturday night, following a week-long series of caucuses.

But in Washington County, where Paul had expected to perform well, the caucus was postponed until Feb. 18 due to an expected snowstorm. Washington County Republican Chairman Chris Gardner told the AP he had no idea when the caucuses were postponed that his county would no longer count toward the grand total.

Basically the Maine GOP decided not to count the precincts that would have favored Ron Paul.

The Maine vote totals reflected about 84 percent of the state's precincts. The contests scheduled for the coming days -- including an entire county that postponed its caucuses because of a snow storm -- will not be counted, according Webster, the state GOP chairman.

"We're not going to even accept the ballots. No one's going to keep track of them," he said, noting that those were the rules established by the party.

The evidence is mounting that Ron Paul actually won Maine by a landslide, and the Maine GOP are desperate prevent that. Image Ron Paul with 70% in Maine, that would change everything. Can’t have that now can we?

The official results from the Maine GOP show 50% the towns with ZERO turnout. But there was a turnout in Belfast, and Ron Paul won with 71 to Romney’s 50.

Romney ‘won’ by less than 200 votes, this was +21 votes for Ron Paul in one caucus, albeit in one of the larger towns.

What about the other zeros? Others are asking questions as well.

The GOP will fight this tooth and nail because once they admit that Maine was stolen from Ron Paul, then the Ron Paul supporters in the other states with questions hanging over their recent primaries and caucuses (which means all of them) will start demanding recounts, and the GOP has no justification other than to conceal the vote fraud to refuse.

The mainstream media reported Mitt Romney the victor of the Maine caucus on Saturday, claiming another win for the frontrunner who had slipped in standing behind Rick Santorum during the previous week’s contests.

Then again, when you ignore an entire county, it’s easy to come out on top.

It's THREE counties, not one! And as it turns out, the man who postponed Washington County's caucus is a Romney supporter, and the winter storm he claimed was the reason for the postponement never happened!

Rivero's Rule of Tyrants: Anyone willing to do anything to attain power is willing to do anything with that power!

Some votes weren't counted and a snowstorm delayed one caucus meeting.

The snow storm never happened, and the GOP official who postponed Washington County (where Ron Paul won in 2008) is a Romney supporter. Also, the votes from Kennebec and Waldo counties were not counted, and in regards to the last one, the GOP refuses to explain why.

Of course, we know the reason and it is the same reason that Nevada had more votes than voters.

This election is being stolen right before our eyes.

If a government cannot prove the honesty and accuracy of the elections by which they claim authority over the people, then the people are neither legally nor morally obligated to obey that government's dictates nor to pay its bills nor to send their children to die in that government's wars, and may with full moral justification resist with lethal force efforts to coerce said obedience, looting, and conscription.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is back on track after winning the Maine caucuses.

What the headlines haven't told you is that what happened in Maine is the messiest caucus Republicans have had so far, and it may not be over yet.

Maine, is not a major state during national primaries. Only 24 delegates come out of Maine to the national convention. But what happened there over the weekend does more than raise eyebrows. It is enough to make you question, was the caucus fixed?

WE NEED PUBLICLY WITNESSED HAND RECOUNTS OF EVERY PRIMARY AND CAUCUS THAT HAS OCCURRED SO FAR. IF MAINE IS SUSPECT, AND IT IS, THEN THEY ARE ALL SUSPECT, AS EMPHASIZED BY IOWA WHERE 8 PRECINCTS' WORTH OF VOTES WENT MISSING, AND NEVADA WHERE THERE WERE MORE VOTES THAN VOTERS!

If a government cannot prove the honesty and accuracy of the elections by which they claim authority over the people, then the people are neither legally nor morally obligated to obey that government's dictates nor to pay its bills nor to send their children to die in that government's wars, and may with full moral justification resist with lethal force efforts to coerce said obedience, looting, and conscription.

One thousand veterans and active duty troops will shatter the corporate media hoax that insists members of the American military do not support Ron Paul due to his opposition to the unconstitutional forever war agenda of the establishment.

GOOD ON THEM!

And I would almost be willing to bet that this number of 1,000 will prove to be....a very conservative estimate.

An email leaked by multiple active duty personnel shows that the military has issued a warning to troops encouraging them not to take part in the upcoming Veterans for Ron Paul 2012 march in Washington on Monday.

The email, posted to the group’s facebook event page and sent to organiser Adam Kokesh by several unconfirmed sources, lays out several directives on participation in political events by active and non active duty military.

Referring to the event as a “partisan political march”, the insinuation is clear – any active duty personnel, whether in uniform or not, and any reservists marching in uniform or otherwise deemed to be endorsing Ron Paul, could be reprimanded.

No price is too great to keep Israel in control of the nation, right? Adelson is already under investigation for bribing the Chinese government and now he wants to do the same here. And ultimately, that $100 million is to keep Ron Paul from the nomination because Ron Paul won't bow to Tev Aviv.

The only way to get the big money corruption out of politics is for the little money to unite together in the struggle for freedom. Donate to Ron Paul HERE!

Pentagon wants $100 million extra to be prepared for a war with Iran. The money, requested from the Congress, is to beef up US military presence in the Persian Gulf and rapidly upgrade weapons to more effectively combat Iranian armed forces.

US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Gulf region, wants them prepared to defeat the Iranian fleet and shore artillery. They also want additional drone capabilities and mine swiping equipment to clear the Strait of Hormuz, should Iran act to set mines there as it threatened to, reports The Wall Street Journal.

As part of the push, US spec-op team stationed in the United Arab Emirates has also been ordered to be prepared to take parting in military action in the region, the newspapers says citing defense sources. The unit is currently training elite forces of the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and other US allies in the region.

Apparently, not only does NBC continue to present McCaffrey to its viewers as some sort of objective analyst, but NBC News executives use him as some kind of private consultant and briefer on the news. On January 12, 2012, McCaffrey presented a seminar to roughly 20 NBC executives and producers — including NBC News President Steve Capus — entitled “Iran, Nukes & Oil: The Gulf Confrontation.” We’ve obtained the Power Point document McCaffrey prepared and distributed for his presentation, and in it, he all but predicts war with Iran within the next 90 days: one that is likely to be started by them. The first page of the breathlessly hawkish document is entitled “Iran & the Gulf: Creeping Toward War,” and the first sentence excitedly proclaims.

The degree to which corporate US media is propagandizing the American public toward the inevitability of war with Iran is absolutely amazing; it is as though absolutely no other alternatives than war exist, such as diplomacy and negotiation.

There can be no true "impartial experts" in this arena when they are heavily financially invested in profiting from any upcoming war, and Mc Caffrey is obviously one of the worst offenders in this area.

When credentials are touted as impeccable, in terms of military analysis, the next question a skeptical public should ask is, how do intensely these people profit from war?

Obama is so desperate, if this account is to be believed, that he’s offered Israel use of our Middle East bases from which to launch its attack at a later date:

U.S. intelligence and special operations officials have tried to keep a dialogue going with Israel despite the high-level impasse, offering options such as allowing Israel to use U.S. bases in the region to launch such a strike, as a way to make sure the Israelis give the Americans a heads-up, according to the U.S. official and a former U.S. official with knowledge of the communications.

What the hell does "at a later date" mean?!?

Were I President Obama, that would definitely have to mean after the November elections this year.

Were I a betting human being, I would bet that Netanyahu will strike at the worst possible political time for President Obama.

But here's what I would propose if Israel strikes Iran, particularly without informing the US beforehand:

1. The immediate cessation of all military and financial aid by the US to Israel (already illegal under the Symington Amendment, because Israel has nuclear weapons, and refuses to become a signatory to the NNPT.)

2. The recall of our Ambassador from Tel Aviv.

3. The declaration that all Israeli politicians are persona non grata in the US.

4. The banning of all Israeli items from American stores.

5. Decreeing that all members of AIPAC must register as agents of a foreign government.

Iran is to accept gold instead of dollars as payment for its oil, the country's state news agency has said.

The move comes as US and European Union sanctions against Iran have made it difficult for buyers to make dollar payments to Iranian banks.

"What?!? You can't do that! You're supposed to only use the dollar so that when we turn off the dollars we can destroy you! That's the way we set it all up to work! Gold as money? You think this is 1776 or something? Gold isn't money. DOLLARS are money; as many as we want to print up! That was Qaddafi's mistake, with his %$@#% state bank and his %$@% Gold Dinar! How are we supposed to enslave the world to debt if people start avoiding the dollar!" -- Official White Horse Souse

When US President Barack Obama and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet on Monday, neither heads of state will have to worry too much about plotting their war on Iran. Pentagon officials are saying that those wheels are already in motion.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, Pentagon sources this week say that both Washington and Jerusalem defense officials have already begun discussions on how the countries will work in cooperation with one another should they follow through with an attack.

Reading this makes me absolutely ill.

And President Obama, if you sign off on this, it will be one of the catastrophically wrong-headed, chock-full of horrifically unintended consequences, moves ever made by a US politician in an election year.

Unless this is a total blitzkrieg, executed with absolute precision, this attack against Iran may well not go well for the US for the following reasons.

1. The US doesn't have the military troop strength, the money, or manufacturing capability of pursuing such a campaign effectively.

2. Leadership from nuclear armed Pakistan, Russia, and China have gone public, stating that in the case of any attack against Iran, they will come to the aid of Iran militarily.

3. So Mr. President, what we have here is the potential for a global thermonuclear war, over an alleged Iranian weapons program which cannot, to date, be proven to exist.

Poster remark: filed under "humor". Barack just pulled a fast one over The Onion; there is no way they can top this.

Apparently the "green shoots of hope", the "economic turn around", the "US out-innovating out-educating and out-building the world", and the "taking responsibility for the deficit spending" were just ... statements to confuse the enemy?

US President Barack Obama on Thursday called US support for Israel "sacrosanct" and vowed to ensure the Jewish state retains its "military superiority."

Obama's comments come ahead of a March 5 meeting at the White House with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is making a full court press to ensure US commitment to decisive action against Iran's nuclear program.

I sure as heck wish Obama had such a 'sacrosanct' support for the needs and concerns of the American people here at home!!

We spend billions on Israel every year, while homeless Vets sleep in our streets and our infrastructure crumbles.

It is no accident that Netanyahu had his visit to Canada's Prime Minister Harper in advance of his visit with Obama next week.

The US government may well collapse,, and Netanyahu sees Canada as the next "host" for Israel's financial and military needs.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel has the right to defend itself against a country that wants to destroy it, referring to Iran.

Netanyahu made the comments as he began a meeting with Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa, according to a CBC report.

“I know from many conversations that we’ve had that you share my view that this is a grave threat to the peace and security of the world and I think it is important that the international community not allow this threat to materialize,” Netanyahu was quoted as having told Harper as they held a photo opportunity in Harper’s office.

“As for Israel,” added Netanyahu, “like any sovereign country, we reserve the right to defend ourselves against a country that calls and works for our destruction.

Memo to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu; sir, forgive me, but the "big lie" technique is really passe, and you cannot be taken seriously by any thinking individual in this issue.

As you are very well aware, Ahmedinejad never said that he wanted to , allegedly, "wipe Israel off the map".

And please, what does a bristlingly nuclear-armed Israel have to worry about in terms of Iran ever attacking it?!?

The leadership of Iran is many things, but sir, stupid is not one of them. Why would they do the most idiotically, ham-fistedly thing they could do militarily, when they are absolutely clear on what the consequences? And as you know, the short answer is, they wouldn't!

To date, no nuclear material has gone missing from Iran's energy program, and they are only enriching up to 20%, with which to create medical isotopes. This is not about blowing people up; it is about helping people heal.

It is obvious that the words "..“like any sovereign country, we reserve the right to defend ourselves..." translates, in Netanyahu-speak, to "We have the right to blow up any neighboring country we don't like; better still, have the dumb Americans do that for us!"

But as you also know, leadership from nuclear-armed Russia, China, and Pakistan has gone public, stating that if Iran is attacked, they will support it militarily.

So what we have here, sir, is the potential for a global thermonuclear war over an alleged Iranian weapons program which, to date, cannot be proven to exist!

Stephen Harper is caught between two allies. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travels to North America in a high-stakes gambit to find political support for a strike on Iran, Mr. Harper wants to back his Israeli ally without ticking off a bigger one in Washington.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has threatened Pakistan with sanctions if the country continues with plans to build a natural gas pipeline to Iran.

The U.S. is moving to squeeze Iran financially in a bid to force it to drop its nuclear program. But Pakistan has been unwilling to line up behind the U.S., saying it needs Iran, a neighbor, to help it meet a massive energy shortage.

Mrs. Clinton told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee Wednesday that sanctions could be triggered if Islamabad presses ahead. As Pakistan’s economy already is in dire straits, the sanctions could be “particularly damaging” and “further undermine their economic status,” Mrs. Clinton said.

Memo to the Pakistani civilian and military leadership; if you haven't figured out that the US government is one lousy "fair weather friend", and that this capricious "friendship" can turn on a dime when the friendship becomes "inconvenient", you had better wake up to that reality and right the heck now.

That US Secretary of State Clinton is threatening you with sanctions yet offering no alternatives to Pakistan's energy needs, is a pretty clear sign that in the eyes of those in the bowels of power in this country, Pakistan has morphed from friend to frenemy to enemy.

And if sanctions are imposed, look for a massive increase in drone attacks against Pakistan.

Now, as then, an existential threat is posed to the State of Israel. Now, as then, Israel's prime minister demands of the U.S. president that he act to remove the threat facing Israel. Now, as then, American intelligence forces are not persuaded that circumstances warrant a military act. Now, as then, Israel is liable to find itself in a corner, alone, defended only by its own capabilities. Now, as then, it is clear that no Israeli prime minister will ask for advance authorization from the American head of state for a strike, and that no U.S. president would give his approval for such an operation at this time.

Again, for the zillionth time, here are the facts of the matter:

1. To date, no nuclear material has been documented as diverted by the consistent inspections of the IAEA inside the Iranian nuclear energy facilities.

2. Iran is only enriching uranium to 20%, which is necessary for the creation of medical isotopes: this is about helping people heal, not blowing people up.

3. Israel, unlike Iran, refuses to sign the NNPT and allow its nuclear sites to be inspected.

4. Israel is bristling with nuclear weapons which it could rain down upon any neighbor-country it didn't much like.

5. Under the Symington Amendment, all US financial and military aid is illegal, because Israel does have nuclear weapons, and refuses to become a signatory to the NNPT.

6. Iranian leadership is many things, but stupid isn't one of them. They would not attack Israel, because they know that between the Israeli and US military, Iran would be reduced to a puddle of glass if they did anything so idiotic.

7. The leadership of nuclear armed Pakistan, Russia, and China have gone on record, stating that if Iran is attacked, they will assist it militarily.

8. So what we have here is the potential for a global thermonuclear war over an alleged Iranian weapons program which cannot, to date, be proven to exist!!

Exuding confidence, Mr Netanyahu effectively brings with him an ultimatum, demanding that unless the president makes a firm pledge to use US military force to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb, Israel may well take matters into its own hands within months.

The threat is not an idle one. According to sources close to the Israeli security establishment, military planners have concluded that never before has the timing for a unilateral military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities been so auspicious.

But with Syria preoccupied by a near civil war and Hamas in recent weeks choosing to leave Iran's orbit and realign itself with Egypt, Iran's options suddenly look considerably more limited, boosting the case for war.

Memo to President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and all the US Congressional attendants to the upcoming AIPAC conference: the American people have grown sick, tired, and angry at the cost, in American blood and American money, Israel consistently demands be sacrificed upon the altar of ultimate Israeli hegemony in the Middle East.

They see this rabid rush, on the part of US Congressional Representatives,to put the needs and desires of a foreign government ahead of American needs and concerns, dangerously close to treason.

There are many times when the desired outcomes of the Israeli government conflict intensely with those desired by the American people; enabling Israel for a war against Israel is absolutely one of those times, and may well be a career-ender for American politicians in an election year, if in fact elections are not suspended.

Such a war could go very badly for the US government, if the war is not blitzkrieg-like in nature, and drags out. The US government doesn't have the troop strength, the money, or the manufacturing to endure a sustained campaign.

Add to the mix the reality that the leadership of nuclear-armed Russia, China, and Pakistan have stated publicly that they will assist Iran if it is attacked, and you have the potential for a global nuclear war over an alleged Iranian weapons program which cannot, to date, be proven to exist.

Israel is attempting to ameliorate such threats, at least with Russia, by offering a partnership with Gazprom in two large oil fields, but it remains to be seen if this will be accepted as the "payoff" to prevent Russia from aiding Iran militarily should it be attacked.

Last week, Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Antonio Patriota, reminded Ban Ki-moon regarding his role as UN Secretary General. it referred to the issue of criminal actions in derogation of international law.

On April 9, a high-ranking NATO delegation will visit Azerbaijan in order to begin negotiations on granting the country an Individual Partnership Action Plan.

So far, Azerbaijan has been moving very cautiously towards NATO, out of consideration for its neighbour, Iran. However, the tense political situation in the region has prompted Baku to seek a new policy direction.

Let's take a look at a map here.

Were I am member of the Azerbaijani government, I would consider the NATO proposal very carefully, but not make any decisions until a crew from Moscow came in to pitch their version of "An Individual Partnership Plan".

IF NATO and the US are planning staging military activities for a ware against Iran, offering a military "carrot" here, and Azerbaijan agrees, Russia is going to be ticked off in an industrial strength manner.

The very sober question has to be asked by those in leadership here as to which countries and forces are more likely to truly be able to defend Azerbaijan in case of such a war; the US, NATO, or Russia?!?

Now this would be great news for Greece which as previously reported had at times relied for more than 50% of its crude imports on Iran. There is just one problem: very soon the country will no longer have said gold in its possession, as part of the preapproved Greek bailout of Europe, the country's constitution would be changed to reflect that even its gold now is part of the bailout conditions, and European banks have a lien on it. Especially if said gold is located in the basement of the NY Fed where it most likely resides.

As for other countries, such as China which we are confident has been quietly stockpiling gold in the last few years, and will make a surprise announcement any day now, as it did back in 2009... that's a different matter entirely.

US President Barack Obama warned a premature attack on Iran would allow it to play the “victim” in the nuclear crisis, in remarks published Friday days before he meets Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

In some of his toughest comments yet on Tehran’s nuclear drive, Obama also said Israel and Iran should take seriously possible US action against Iranian nuclear facilities if sanctions fail to stop the country’s atomic ambitions.

Translation: "We gotta bomb something important here in the US and frame Iran for it before we can get away with an invasion!

Israel is to test an advanced anti-ballistic missile system in the coming weeks, inevitably fuelling speculation about preparations for a possible military confrontation with Iran.

The announcement that the first test of the Arrow 3 interceptor system would be performed "in the near future" was made as Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu flew to North America ahead of a crucial meeting with President Barack Obama at which Iran will top the agenda. Netanyahu is expected to press for a clear US commitment to military action if diplomacy and sanctions fail.

“Suffocating sanctions could lead to a grave economic situation in Iran and to a shortage of food,” one of the officials claimed. Though thanks to inflation the price of food is rising and causing hardships for average Iranians, it isn’t clear how officials propose to force a famine on the nation.

Starving civilians? I seem to recall that is what the Nazis did to the Warsaw ghetto. Evil then, evil now.

Top Pentagon officials are floating an idea to put elite special operations forces under CIA control in Afghanistan after 2014, sources told The Associated Press.

If the plan were adopted, the U.S. government would be able to officially say that there are no more troops in Afghanistan, because once the special operations teams are assigned to CIA control they become spies. This would obviously hinder any potential for accountability and transparency, since activities and funding would become classified and journalists or other forms of oversight would not be welcomed.

An air raid carried out by NATO forces in the Tagab district of the eastern Kapisa province in Afghanistan resulted in at least three civilian deaths and four injuries.

The provincial council representative for the eastern Kapisa province stated that the air raid, conducted by French troops, resulted in two children being among the casualties, according to Khwaja Ghulam Mohammad Zmarai, the deputy provincial council for the Kapisa province, Khaama reports.

Zmarai stated that the French troops had received inaccurate intelligence from local residents as to the presence of suspected Taliban militants...

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it would be "premature" to change strategy in the Afghan war on a surprise farewell trip to the war-torn country Saturday.

While offering reassurance that the international community would not "rush to the exits" after the planned full withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014, he also stressed that the commitment to Afghanistan was not forever.

Memo to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates: How can you begin to talk about it being "premature" to change strategy in the Afghan war?

Forgive me, sir, but if we haven't "won" this war in the last 10 years, how the devil to you expect it to be won by 2014?!?

Does the US and NATO actually have a "strategy" in Afghanistan?!?And isn't strategy a collection of tactics which actually work to achieve the geopolitical objective?!?

The only thing the US and NATO seem to have been doing recently has been house raids, leaving non-combatants, including many children, dead, and pushing those left standing into the waiting embrace of the Taliban.

The only folks "winning" in the last decade of this war in Afghanistan are the drug lords and defense corporations, supplying mercenaries and supplies.

Had Gates been honest, he would have stated that the only reason for the US and NATO are staying in Afghanistan until 2014 is because that is when the Turkmenistan/Afghanistan/Pakistan/India pipeline is due to be finished with construction.

If successful, the Asian Development Bank will make money; Turkmenistan will make money; the consortiums which design and build it it will make money; and the business units administering it will make money.

What Gates and his accomplices in this horrific war should be saying, right now, to the faces of families and friends of those in the US military, who will be fighting, getting maimed for life, and dying here until 2014, is that the real reason for their presence is to provide some assurance of turning a profit for these private corporate entities invested in this pipeline.

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan publicly reproached Afghanistan's president Sunday for painting American forces here as occupiers and enemies — one of the strongest signs yet that Afghanistan's international allies are no longer willing to excuse President Hamid Karzai's harangues as harmless domestic politicking.

U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry told university students and faculty in the western city of Herat that he felt the need to speak from his heart as he reaches the end of his two-year tour as ambassador. The words that came next were strongly critical of the Afghan president, without naming Karzai.

"I find occasional comments from some of your leaders hurtful and inappropriate," Eikenberry told the crowd according to a transcript of the speech.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Osama bin Laden may be dead but NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Sunday that western powers will "stay the course" in Afghanistan amid growing calls for the decade-old war to end.

"International terrorism still poses a threat toward our countries," Rasmussen told Fox News, while acknowledging that the Al-Qaeda leader's death in a dramatic US commando raid a week ago may have marked a crucial milestone.

But Rasmussen said he was "optimistic" US and NATO forces will abide by a timetable to transition security to Afghan responsibility this year, with an aim to complete that process in 2014.

"Congratulations Mr. Netanyahu, my first question is that does the beginning of the large train line's construction confirm the announcement of the dissident Syrian Intelligence Office that you will strike Lebanon?"

In reply, Netanyahu stated:

"Yes, and it is not a secret that it will happen with U.S.-Gulf support and that is why they have been warned, but before you ask, you have a look at the new map of the world and see that there is no nation with this name."

I hear no howls of outrage from the American media now that Netanyahu is talking about wiping Lebanon from the map!

IDF confirms at least three Katyusha rockets explode in Western Galilee, search area for forth rocket; no injuries reported, but several structures sustain damage. IDF forces respond with artillery fire on Lebanon

Why would Lebanon (or anyone) launch what are essentially fireworks rockets into Israel knowing it will provoke a major retaliation. These are Israeli agents provocateurs at work, and the proof is that Israel was already moving their missiles into position earlier in the day( see next story down).

A new statement issued today by US Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly condemned the current Lebanese government, insisting that the cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Mikati reflected not the will of the Lebanese voters, but of the Syrian and Iranian governments.

Memo to US Ambassador Connelly: I really wouldn't sweat this, if I were you.

After all, dear, the current US administration doesn't reflect the will of the American voters either; just the will of the corporations, banks, and Israel, which collectively own it.

But of course, this is all a prelude to yet another attack on Lebanon by Israel, to which the US government is not going to object in the slightest, because of the above-referenced realty.

Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams warned Tuesday that a war could erupt between Lebanon and Israel as a result of this week’s minor exchange of gunfire on the tense border.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Lebanon was determined to defend its rights and protect its sovereignty by all legitimate means against Israeli threats.

Despite the tension created by a brief exchange of gunfire between the Lebanese Army and Israeli soldiers who crossed the U.N.-drawn Blue Line into the Lebanese village of Wazzani, the situation was generally quiet in south Lebanon Tuesday, U.N. officials said.

"The Israeli Chief of staff told the Knesset’s Foreign Committee that “with lots of wishes and a little bit of information” the situation in Lebanon will probably deteriorate following the issuance of an indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) over the assassination of former PM martyr Rafiq Hariri.

In September 2006, Swiss journalist Silvia Cattori interviewed German criminal investigator Jurgen Cain Kulbel. In this interview, he discusses the political role of the UN Commission and the unexploited leads pointing to Israeli responsibility."

With Syria on the boil and Israel continuing to threaten Lebanon, this set of indictments could bring the Lebanese government down again, which could well result in another civil war, or war with Israel (something for which the Israeli government has been desperate to find an "excuse" to start for quite some time).

The remote-controlled drone left Lebanese airspace at 3:05 p.m. local time (0005 GMT) on Friday while flying over the southern village of Rmeish.

Another Israeli drone infringed upon the Lebanese airspace at 9:10 p.m. local time (1810 GMT) on Thursday and carried out covert surveillance fights over Beirut and Tyre, located about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Beirut.

The aircraft flew over the southern city of Sidon at 00:10 p.m. local time on Friday (2110 GMT on Thursday) and left.

Memo to the Lebanese government and military: Israel is attempting to provoke a military response to these drone flights as their "excuse" for invading Lebanon yet again.

Please do not give them their excuse, particularly when this is the moment the UN has chosen to accuse Hezbullah members of their (alleged) hit on Raffiq Harari, and asked the Lebanese government to turn them over for prosecution.

Israeli troops crossed the border and entered the village of Kfar Shouba on Friday to abduct Lebanese Shepherd Ala Nabaa, a Press TV correspondent reported, adding that the Lebanese national; however, managed to escape.

Meanwhile, four Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace, flying over different parts of the country for more than two hours, a statement released by the Lebanese military read on Friday.

The latest intrusion comes one day after an Israeli reconnaissance plane entered Lebanon's southern airspace and remained in Lebanese territory for almost 24 hours.

A report broadcasted on Al-Manar TV station Friday, revealed that a platoon of Israeli soldiers set up the ambush inside the Lebanese territories, 250 meters away from the borders, in the liberated Saddana hill in Shebaa.

“Clashes took place between the dogs accompanying the shepherd’s flock of sheep and the Israeli soldiers, where one of the dogs bit an Israeli soldier after he hit it with a rifle that deeply injured the dog’s head”, Al-Manar reporter Ali Shoaib stated.

Israel ambush set up inside Lebanon foiled by a dog. Impressive guys, really impressive! No wonder you lost the last time you invaded!

A new United Nations report strongly criticizes Israelfor using live fire against unarmed demonstrators who tried in May to breach its border fence from Lebanon. Israel is planning a detailed and critical response to the report in a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the next few days, officials here said on Thursday.

The United Nations has been a frequent battleground for Israel, whose diplomats are currently working to oppose a bid by the Palestiniansfor international recognition of statehood at the Security Council and the General Assembly this fall.

The report states that Israel first issued verbal warnings and fired into the air before directing live fire at the mostly Palestinian protesters, killing seven civilians and injuring 111.

A new report of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is highly critical of Israel for its handling of incidents on the border with Lebanon on May 15 – Nakba Day. It concludes that the Israeli soldiers used disproportionate force against Lebanese demonstrators, which resulted in seven deaths.

In Israel there is great anger at the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Michael Williams, who authored the report, and the Foreign Affairs Ministry is cutting contact with him until further notice.

"How dare you! I mean, How DARE you! How DARE you dare to dare!!!!"

Think I am kidding that this is Israel's attitude?

"Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial." -- Ariel Sharon

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights: Israeli troops shot at Palestinian protesters on its frontiers with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza Sunday, killing nine who were marking what they term “the catastrophe” of Israel’s founding in 1948.

Troops opened fire in three separate border locations to prevent crowds of demonstrators, some lobbying rocks, from crossing Israeli frontier lines, in the deadliest such confrontation in years.

Yes, Israel, when in doubt, and perhaps suffering from "selective memory" regarding what happened to the Palestinians who lived in the area which became Israel, blame Iran!

I would like to remind those in the bowels of power in Tel Aviv that since becoming an Islamic Republic in 1979, Iran has not attacked any country, period, end of discussion. Also, the Jewish community of Iran has refused to leave Iran to emigrate to Israel, because they do have a good life, human rights, and political representation.

Two Lebanese security officials say four people in Lebanon were killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire at protesters who approached the border with Israel.

The security officials said there were injuries as well. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The demonstration came as a large crowd of protesters also tried to cross into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from neighboring Syria.

Israel has just created a major provocation here against Lebanon, that one can only rightly characterise as an act of war.

Lebanese protestors got shot just for approaching the border?

Only one of two options can be true here; either this particular IDF unit went rogue, or Tel Aviv gave them the order to shoot unarmed protestors on the Lebanese side of the border in order to create a provocation to which the Lebanese military would respond, which, so far, they have not.

Ten Palestinian protesters were shot dead and 112 others wounded Sunday by Israeli forces along Lebanon’s borders with Israel as thousands of unarmed Palestinians rallied to the frontier to mark the Nakba, the 63rd anniversary of the expulsion from their homeland.

There is a fence that marks the Israel-Lebanon border and the protesters were on the Lebanese side. However,m if you recall the incident with the uprooted Tree, Israel takes the position that it can re-draw the border where it chooses, including hundreds of yards into the Lebanese side. Then Israel can simply uproot any tree or kill any person while claiming they are defending themselves.

MAROUN AL-RASS, Lebanon: Israeli forces fired on pro-Palestinian protesters on the border with Lebanon Sunday, killing at least 10 and wounding over 100, the Lebanese Army said.

“Despite stepped-up preparations by the Lebanese Army in Maroun al-Rass to oversee the gathering on the occasion of the ‘Nakba,’ Israel forces fired in the direction of the demonstrators which led to the martyrdom of 10 of those who gathered and the wounding of 112 others,” an army statement said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he hoped calm would be restored quickly along Israel's frontiers after the killing of pro-Palestinian protesters on the Lebanese, Syrian and Gaza borders.

Every time Netanyahu uses the word "calm", substitute the word "territory", and you will have a clearer picture of precisely what he means.

And when he talks about Israel being "....determined to defend our borders and sovereignty"; just what borders would those be, Mr. Prime Minister?!?

Isn't that a rather odd statement from the Prime Minister of a country which refuses to say precisely where its borders are?!?

Potential new flashpoints in the Middle East unrest have opened after Israel shot at pro-Palestinian protesters on its borders with Syria and Lebanon, killing at least 13 people and drawing furious condemnation from the Syrian regime.

"We will NOT have peace in our time, dammit! We'll see to that!" -- Tel Aviv

Speaking one day after Israeli troops killed at least 20 civilian protesters in cross border attacks, White House spokesman Jay Carney praised Israel for its “restraint” and said that the Netanyahu government had every right to kill those people “to prevent unauthorized crossing at its borders.”

"Of course, everything Israel does is right! From killing unarmed aid workers in international waters last year, (including one American citizen), to setting dogs on desperate Palestinians attempting to find work; to killing unarmed protestors; to maintaining the siege of Gaza, denying Palestinians desperately needed medical care" (including infants and children), to killing unarmed Lebanese protestors for just walking toward the Israeli border. It's all great!"

And Jay Carney, couldn't you have "swallowed just a little bit harder on praising Israel for its "restraint"?!? - official white horse souse.

Lebanon says an Israeli patrol has violated its border, crossing into its territory in the disputed area of Kfar Shuba."A patrol of eight enemy (Israeli) soldiers crossed the line of withdrawal at the town of Kfar Shuba in an attempt to abduct a shepherd," AFP quoted Neeraj Singh, a Lebanese army spokesman, on Thursday.Neeraj said the shepherd managed to escape the attempt but the Israeli soldiers crossed 20 meters (22 yards) into the UN-drawn Blue Line border.

Israel continued to conduct mock air raids in the skies over Lebanon on Friday as the world awaited the findings of a United Nations investigation into the clash that killed four people along the Blue Line.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Wait a minute: Israel is still doing incursions into Lebanese air space?!?Where the heck is UNFIL when something like this happens, and what are they gong to do about it?!?

Okay, let us recap...This road represents the border between Israel (to the right) and Lebanon (to the left). This is the border as defined by the United Nations following the last invasion of Lebanon by Israel. Israel has every legal right to so whatever they wish to their side of that border (the land stretching off the right side of the frame). They have no legal right to do anything at all to the land or trees on the Lebanese side of the border without permission. And, Lebanon informed Israel, twice, that Lebanon would not allow Israel to remove or otherwise alter the trees on Lebanon's side of the border. Israel went ahead and did so anyway, uprooting a tree on the Lebanese side of the border, supposedly because it blocked the view of a surveillance camera.

The reports are that the Lebanese military fired warning shots over the heads of the Israelis, and the Israelis retaliated with gun and artillery fire. Five people are dead, three Lebanese military, a reporter and one Israeli officer.The point is that this is hardly an "Ambush." The Israelis knew they were someplace they were not supposed to be, and that the Lebanese military knew they were there and had refused permission for Israel to remove the tree. It was a provocation, and Netanyahu calling it am ambush is the usual Israeli attempt at blaming the victim in order to avoid responsibility for their own behavior.

Israel planned on launching a large-scale military operation in response to the border incident between the Israel Defense Forces and the Lebanese Army which killed Lieutenant-Colonel Dov Harari, the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.

According to the report, Defense Minister Ehud Barak informed French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner about the plan, which was eventually withdrawn following pressure by US, French, Egyptian and other Arab state officials.

Webmaster's Commentary:

So, the tree incident was indeed staged to justify an already-planned military attack by Israel into Lebanon.

In response to the incident, the Lebanese army issued a statement in which it claimed that Israel “continues to violate UN Resolution 1701,” although no specifics were given.While the incident was comparatively minor, it came less than a week after a flare-up on the northern border between the LAF and the IDF left an Israeli officer and three Lebanese soldiers dead.

The US State Department has reacted with outrage today after the Iranian government offered to provide military aid to Lebanon to make up for what was lost when the US pulled all such aid yesterday.

Webmaster's Commentary:

"But, but, but, we yanked Lebanon's funding that so Israel would have an easy time stealing the Litani river!!!!! And now you're just messing it up for us!!!!" -- Official White Horse SouseAll kidding aside, this is another example of a totally failed foreign policy in service to Israel. Sanctions have driven Iran into the Russian-Chinese sphere of influence. Support for Israel has alienated the US from the rest of the Middle East. Trying to set Lebanon up as an sacrificial lamb for Israel has driven Lebanon into alliance with Iran, meaning Russia and China. The attack on the aid fleet lost Turkey as an ally in the coming attack on Iran. All of this may please the masters in mighty Israel, but it is a cluster-fuck for the US. Along with the EU, servitude to Israel is isolating us from the rest of the world. The stage is set for WW3. Enjoy the pretty flashes of light.

Member of the Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc in Lebanon MP Abdul Majid Saleh stressed that Lebanon will confirm its rights in its oil and gas fields. He spoke of a law on setting Lebanon’s maritime borders and the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone that will see light soon.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Manar Website, Saleh warned that any attempt to push Lebanon into direct negotiations with the Israeli enemy would fail. He said that the era in which Israel used to impose, occupy, kill and destroy without being held accountable was over.

Al-Rahel, a former army officer, leads a movement to declare semiautonomy in eastern Libya, where most of the country's oil fields are located. The region's top tribal leaders meet Tuesday in the east's main city Benghazi to consider unilaterally announcing an eastern state, linked to the west only by a tenuous "federal union."

The move shows how six months after Gadhafi's fall, the central government in Libya has proved incapable of governing at all. Other countries that shed their leaders in the Arab Spring revolts -- Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen -- are going through rocky transitions, but none has seen a collapse of central authority like Libya. The collapse has only worsened as cities, towns, regions, militias and tribes all act on their own, setting up their independent power centers.

A shocking video has appeared on the Internet showing Libyan rebels torturing a group of black Africans. People with their hands bound are shown being locked in a zoo-like cage and allegedly forced to eat the old Libyan flag.

“Eat the flag, you dog. Patience you dog, patience. God is Great,” screams a voice off-camera in the video uploaded to YouTube last week, which also made its way onto LiveLeak.com.

The torturers are also shown making the group of captive black Africans stand up with pieces of green cloth still in their mouths and apparently forcing them start jumping.

Central banks' joint efforts sustain global system ... Never before have the world's central banks sent so much money sloshing through the global financial system. From slashing interest rates and buying government debt to dangling cheap loans to banks and taking on their risky assets, central banks have taken extraordinary steps since the 2008 financial crisis to nurse the international banking system back to health. Over the past 3 1/2 years, the central banks of the United States, Britain, Japan and the 17 countries that use the euro have pumped out so much money that their balance sheets have reached a combined $8.76 trillion. That's a record, by far. The infusion of money has eased borrowing costs and raised confidence in banks, governments and companies. – Boston.com

What makes individual stockbrokers blow billions in financial markets with criminal trading schemes? According to a new study conducted at a Swiss university, it may be because share traders behave more recklessly and are more manipulative than psychopaths.

Monday, February 27, 2012

81 RESIGNATIONS FROM WORLD BANKS 2/27/12

(1) 9/01/11 (USA NY) Bank of New York Mellon Chief Resigns in a Shake-UPhttp://loanworkout.org/2011/09/bank-of-new-york-mellon-chief-resigns-in-a-shake-up/

(2) 09/20/12 (SCOTLAND) SCOTTISH WIDOWS (RETIREMENT INVESTMENT SAVINGS FUND) There could be no Scottish representative on the board of Lloyds Banking Group, owner of Bank of Scotland, in future after it announced the departure of Lord Sandy Leitch, the chairman of Scottish Widows and group deputy chairman.http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/business/company-news/warning-as-last-scot-leaves-lloyds-board-lloyds-could-lack-scottish-voice.15150830?_=20e772c9486b6372433ff2b886a31e9fca7eeb2a

(6) 11/01/12 (INDIA) More directors of the Beed district bank resignhttp://www.thenews.coop/article/more-directors-beed-district-bank-resign

(7) 11/02/12 (UNITED KINGDOM) Lloyds Banking Group chief executive, António Horta-Osório, is to take leave of absence on health grounds for six to eight weeks, the BBC has reported. (STILL OUT AS OF 2/24/12 - DEFACTO RESIGNATION)http://www.bankingtimes.co.uk/2011/11/02/lloyds-chief-on-sick-leave/

(13) 1/01/12 (NIGERIA) The Board of United Bank for Africa Plc, the pan African financial services Group with presence in 19 countries across Africa, has accepted the resignation of Mr. Victor Osadolor, from the board with effect from January 9, 2012.http://www.ubagroup.com/mediacentre/newsdetails/343

(16) 1/03/12 (UNITED KINGDOM) Departures from Board at Arbuthnot Banking Group: Neil KirtonShortly before the market closed at 12.30 p.m. on Friday the company disclosed that Neil Kirton had resigned from the Board the previous day.http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/4285058/Departures-from-Board-at-Arbuthnot-Banking-Group.html

(17) 1/03/12 (UNITED KINGDOM) Departures from Board at Arbuthnot Banking Group: Atholl TurrellIt has today stated that Atholl Turrell has left the Board.http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/4285058/Departures-from-Board-at-Arbuthnot-Banking-Group.html

(28) 2/01/12 (UNITED KINGDOM) Tim TOokey - Llyods Banking Group leaving end of February having served as interim group chief executive in addition to group finance directorhttp://www.bankingtimes.co.uk/2012/02/01/lloyds-head-of-wholesale-quits/

"Mr Tookey, who has been with the group since 2006, will leave at the end of February after preparing the bank’s accounts for 2011. He will not get a pay-off."http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/business/company-news/warning-as-last-scot-leaves-lloyds-board-lloyds-could-lack-scottish-voice.15150830?_=20e772c9486b6372433ff2b886a31e9fca7eeb2a

(41) 2/14/12 (UKRAINE) The National Bank of Ukraine issued a short statement on Thursday announcing the resignation of deputy governor Volodymyr Krotiuk.http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:63Yjqc2bApkJ:www.centralbanking.com/central-banking/news/2145127/ukraine-deputy-governor-resigns%3FWT.rss_f%3DHome%26WT.rss_a%3DUkraine%2520deputy%2520governor%2520resigns+ukraine+deputy+governor+resigns&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1

(45) 2/16/12 (UNITED KINGDOM) The Financial Services Authority’s (FSA’s) interim managing director, Conduct Business Unit, Margaret Cole, is to step down later this year.FSA is the regulator of all providers of financial services in the UK; Bank of England retainsresponsibility for systemic risk.http://www.bankingtimes.co.uk/2012/02/16/fsas-cole-to-step-down/

(57) 2/20/12 (USA) R. David Land Submits Resignation from the Boards of Directors of Peoples Bancorporation, Inc. and Seneca National Bankhttp://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=25695731

(58) 2/20/12 (USA WA) First Financial Northwest Director Quits in Candy Austerity Push[shades of the movie The Caine Mutiny?] First Financial Northwest Inc., a Renton, Washington-based lender, said director Spencer Schneider resigned after asking the bank to remove pictures of past directors and serve only hard candies at annual meetings.Schneider made the requests at a Feb. 15 board meeting as “symbols of austerity,” and also asked that the bank suspend serving refreshments at the annual shareholders’ meeting, offering just hard candies instead, he said. Schneider, general counsel for shareholder Joseph Stilwell, resigned immediately when the company asked that his requests be placed on the agenda for a board meeting next month, the bank said yesterday.http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-20/first-financial-northwest-director-quits-in-candy-austerity-push.html

(59) 2/21/12 (ARGENTINA) The general manager of the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA), Benigno Velez, resigned his position today.http://m24digital.com/en/2012/02/21/the-general-manager-of-the-bcra-benigno-velez-resigned-today/

(61) 2/21/12 (JAPAN) CITIBANK JAPAN: Bakhshi is taking over duties from Brian Mccappin, who the bank said in December would resign after the unit was banned for two weeks from trading tied to the London and Tokyo interbank offered rates.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-21/citigroup-stakes-u-s-mutuals-efsf-bond-program-compliance.html

(64) 2/23/12 (SCOTLAND) Royal Bank of Scotland Group has announced that John McFarlane will step down as a Non-executive Director on 31 March 2012, as a regulatory condition of his impending appointment at Aviva.

(67) 2/24/12 (NEW ZEALAND) FSF Executive Director resignsAfter two years leading the Financial Services Federation ("FSF") executive director, Kirk Hope has resigned to take up the role of chief executive of the New Zealand Bankers? Association.http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/fsf-executive-director-resigns/5/115797

(68) 2/24/12 (USA) Evercore's Mestre steps down as U.S. banking head(Reuters) - Eduardo Mestre has stepped down as day-to-day head of Evercore Partners Inc's U.S. investment banking business, the New York-based company said in a regulatory filing

(69) 2/25/12 (AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND) Goldman Sachs: Fitz quitsStephen Fitzgerald has resigned as Australia and New Zealand chairman and advisory director at Goldman Sachs, after 20 years with the bank. His departure comes less than a year after Goldman took full control of its Australian joint venture, formerly known as Goldman Sachs JBWere.http://www.ifrasia.com/goldman-sachs-fitz-quits/21001856.article

(77) 2/27/12 (BAHRAIN) Al Zain steps down as Mumtalakat Holding CEOThe board of directors of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat),Bahrain’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, has accepted the resignation of the Chief Executive Officer, Talal Al Zain, following the completion of a four year term as head of the investment arm for non-oil and gas assets of the Kingdom of Bahrain.http://twentyfoursevennews.com/bahrain-news/al-zain-steps-down-as-mumtalakat-holding-ceo/

(80) 2/27/12 (UNITED KINGDOM) Moreno to step down at Lloyds Banking GroupLloyds Banking Group has announced that Glen Moreno, its senior independent director, intends not to seek re-election at the bank’s annual general meeting on 17th May, and will retire from the board on that date.http://www.bankingtimes.co.uk/2012/02/27/moreno-to-step-down-at-lloyds/

When it comes to taking the bitter austerity medicine not all participants are shouldering the burden when it comes to the financial market bailouts. The American worker and family have largely been in a massive round of deleveraging from an overhang of debt. The data shows us this with household market debt falling by $569 billion from October of 2007. However, if we are to look at the total credit market we will see that it has roughly increased by $3 trillion over this period. Where is the money (aka debt) going? It certainly isn’t more debt for your average household. Much of this has gone to bailout large banks and government spending.

If we really want to get a sense of what has happened since the recession hit in 2007 we need to look at the full scope of the credit markets. Since October of 2007 total US household debt (including mortgage debt) has fallen by $569 billion. This is the austerity that is being lived by working and middle class Americans. However, during this same the total credit market debt expanded by roughly $3 trillion. Large amounts went to the financial sector and government spending but as we are seeing with US households, much of the austerity is being paid by the middle class and the bailouts are also being paid by this same group.

Critics say that by taking aim at the military health care program by adding additional fees and increasing required payments, the President is dishonoring troops and hurting the military's recruiting power.

Some reports cite unidentified administration officials as saying that they hope that the increases would put pressure on the retirees to opt out of their veterans benefits and sign up for the program put in place by President Obama's controversial Affordable Care Act which was approved in 2010.

Memo to the Obama Administration: these people deserve to be taken care of consistently with the best medical care possible.

They have earned it.

And as has been proven, the alleged "Affordable Care Act" is anything but, with premiums and co-pays rising rapidly.

Want to become a landlord in one of the nation's hardest-hit foreclosure neighborhoods? Well, Uncle Sam has a deal for you.

Fannie Mae (FNMA, Fortune 500) will offer up nearly 2,500 distressed properties in eight locations to investors who are willing to buy them in bulk and rent them out for a set number of years.

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -- Thomas Jefferson

Financial rating agency Moody’s has downgraded Greece’s credit rating to the lowest possible level. It’s the third credit agency to take Greece down a notch or two recently, raising the question - is a Greek meltdown inevitable?

Moody’s downgraded Greece’s rating from Ca to C on the basis that the possibility of a debt default remains high.

The agency says C-rated bonds "are the lowest-rated class and are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest."

The downgrade is a reaction to a debt restructuring deal with private creditors that would see them make a significant loss in their holdings.

John Hofmeister, founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy and the former CEO of Shell Oil’s U.S. operations, warned that there is a “better than 50 percent chance” the price of gas will spike on continued heavy demand in emerging markets and weak public policy at home.

Does it cost you hundreds of dollars just to get to work each month? If it does, you are certainly not alone. There are millions of other Americans in the exact same boat. In recent years, the price of gas in the United States has gotten so outrageous that it has played a major factor in where millions of American families have decided to live and in what kind of vehicles they have decided to purchase.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) has made it official: After its latest two day meeting, it announced its goal to devalue the dollar by 33% over the next 20 years. The debauch of the dollar will be even greater if the Fed exceeds its goal of a 2 percent per year increase in the price level.

So unless your income climbs dramatically like the top 1%) then it doesn't matter how hard you work, your standard of living is going down by imperial edict.

This is the purpose of having unsound money; to allow the bankers control over what your money is worth even after you have worked for it and saved it.

While Nouriel Roubini says that attacking Iran would lead to global recession (and see this), Ronald Reagan’s budget director – David Stockman – points out that even beating the drums of war is driving up oil prices and hurting our economy:

Nothing will signal a tsunami of inflation (caused by currency creation) faster than rising oil (and gold) prices. I think it is a lock that people around the planet will be paying much higher prices at the pump.The banks will be kept afloat at all costs instead of liquidated. Massive amounts of new money will need to be created out of thin air to keep the Western banking system solvent.

(Note: This video is a direct response to the misinformation the President put in his weekly address on the cause of higher gas prices. He has 23,000 views of the address, I think we can reach far more people, with truth.)

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” – Joseph Goebbels Reich Minister of Propaganda

Let me be clear the politicians are merely sock puppets that the true power uses to keep us distracted from the real source of inflation, the entire banking system we have.

Our money is a debt based currency, meaning that every single dollar that comes into existence has a dollar of debt attached to it AND interest to be paid back at a later date.

When debt is created money is created.

When debt is paid off money is destroyed.

The scary thing is that it is impossible to pay off the debt in this system, for if all of the debt was paid off there literally would be NO money in the world AND we would still have to pay the interest that is still due.

The only way this debt based monetary system works is that more money and debt needs to be created every year in excess of the debt and interest accrued the year before or we suffer from the mother of all margin calls in a waterfall deflationary crash.

“In the end we are all dead.” – John Maynard Keynes

There is a mathematical end to this paradigm at some point we have this massive margin call or the more likely scenario we continue creating more money and debt to the point where our dollars lose their fundamental purpose as a store of value and the currency hyper inflates in to the ether.

Yes Mr. President there is a silver bullet to this but it is not one your masters want for it would free humanity from the generational slavery humanity has operated under for 6,000 years.

The Silver Bullet is the abolition of the privately owned Federal Reserve.

The Silver Bullet is the end of fractional reserve banking that creates money out of thin air.

The Silver Bullet is the end of usury and debt for they are a scourge to the human experience.

The Silver Bullet is that we end the global occupation of the world.

The Silver Bullet is that we end this endless and senseless wars.

The Silver Bullet is the complete dismantlement of the federal bureaucracy that wastes trillions of our dollars.

The Silver Bullet is decentralization of power to the most local and responsive level.

The Silver Bullet is to have capital punishment for capital abuse.

The Silver Bullet is to cut the revolving door between Washington and Wall St.

The Silver Bullet is ultimately the complete opposite consciousness than the way we are living today.

It is a complete waste trying to convince those that profit off of this paradigm to do the right thing, but there is a Silver Bullet that we can use and it is the Silver Bullet and Silver Shield.

The Silver Bullet and the Silver Shield is a bullet proof plan that cannot be stopped.

By selling every single paper asset you have ahead of the mathematically inevitable collapse of the dollar and buy real tangible assets like silver, you withdraw your active or passive support for this system that seeks to enslave you in debt.

This plan also acts as a silver shield to protect all that you love as it will create generational wealth as the largest transfer of wealth occurs when the dollar collapses.

The single largest event in human history will be the collapse of the worlds first fiat, debt based global reserve currency.

All paper assets will be destroyed when the currency and hence the paradigm ends.

Only things that have real tangible value will be worth anything.

Walk away from these politicians.

Walk away from their media.

Walk away from their wars.

Walk away from their corporations.

Walk away from their paper Ponzi schemes.

Just walk away.

When you take responsibility for yourself, you empower yourself and weaken them.

Only then can we start creating a new paradigm that resonates with who we are.

According to the Automobile Club of America, gasoline prices have risen, on average, 13.1 cents in the past month—despite the fact that gas prices traditionally fall in the month of February as people drive fewer miles during the wintery month.

What’s more, virtually every projection out there suggests that gas prices are about to make a dramatic rise to, potentially, record levels with some suggesting that $5.00 a gallon gas or more —double the prices of just a few months ago—could very well be in our future.

This becomes a particularly odd statistic when one considers that Americans are using less gasoline than they have at any time in the last fifteen years.

My Disclaimer:

I present this information in my capacity as a human being, under Common Law, exercising my fundamental God given rights and freedoms. This information represents my private thoughts and beliefs and has been compiled and expressed for educational purposes only. In no way should it be construed as either legal or financial advice. If anyone feels a need to determine the accuracy of this information and the effectiveness of apply any of it, I strongly recommend consulting a competent expert on this subject matter.

Here's a Clue:Look the one place "They" never talk about.Look to your heart, as your competent expert lies within."Seek and you shall find."